What Is a Web Portal?

Web portals are organized gateways that help to structure the access to information found on the Internet. Much more than a simple search engine, they usually include customizable access to data such as stock reports, local, regional, and national news, and email services. Most of the better-known portals are commonly identified as search engines, although they offer much more than simply the ability to search the Internet.

While many people assume that the web portal has been around since the invention of the Internet, that is not the case. The earliest tools used to gain access to online data were simple engines that allowed users to search for keywords or key phrases to find online pages, and were known as web directories. As it became possible to broaden the use of this feature to include the ability to enter a specific web address as a means of connecting with a web site, these tools evolved into what is known as a search engine.